Ari No Kurapika
by Mjoern
Summary: AU - Kurapika travel to NGL before any news of the chimera ant invasion leaked out. They are attacked by Rammot and served to the ant queen after Colt saved their bodies from his underling. How will mankind mission for survival enfolds when Kurapika starts to remember after meeting Gon and Killua? How will it affects the fate of Youpi, Pitou, Pouf, Cheetu, Leol, Meruem and Komugi?
1. Prologue

Kurapika had become Nostrade family's top bodyguard in barely a few month.

Of course, he didn't have in mind the best interest of the family even though he had to admit that he wished Neon would recover.

However, his « intelligence research » wouldn't go quite as well without the resource of the Nostrade family so he found himself obligated to deal with their affairs..

It turned out that the Nostrade family gave weapons to the NGL underworld in exchange of the famous drug D2 they were the only one to produce.

It turned out, that at the worst possible moment, Light Nostrade himself, leader of the Nostrade family, had an appointment with Gyro, leader of NGL to renegotiate their deals after an internal breakdown of the Nostrade family caused by Neon loosing her ability and Kurapika putting in debts the organization for the scarlet eyes of one of his slaughtered clan member.

They came together along with Melody for her very useful hearing capabilities and were escorted by some of Gyro's followers, armed with semi-automatic weaponry.

At some point, traveling in the jungle, Melody noticed silent stalker behind them but didn't say anything to Kurapika, thinking only a wild predator could be that invisible to her senses in this forest.

It was indeed a wild predator, but by no means was it harmless..

That, she realized but too late as the beast appeared in front of them seeming prone to anger :

« You've stepped into private property ! This land is mine ! »

Her fist reaction was to be fear stricken by the speed of the beast, as she heard its movement..  
Her second reaction ?  
It was to be fear stricken by the look of the beast : it was a anthropomorphic rabbit with feathered arms wearing but a thong to cover its crotch.


	2. Politic and Revelation

**About two weeks later,**

 _Aarrgh ! I know there is plenty of humans but killing them for fun and eating them despite that it's the queen's food !_

 _Am I really being too bossy like Cheetu says.. Like.. everyone say.._

 _Maybe those that do not say it simply aren't bold enough to go against me.._

 _For a few days, I was the strongest and most intelligent ant.._

 _I was the first squadron leader, maybe those that still follows my opinion are just following me by default.._

 _Hagya.. he's pretty much the most powerful and influential leader of the queen's army.._

 _The queen's army ? Is it really still so, or are we all pawns in his schemes ?_

\- Colt, don't let that bother you, Hagya sure is popular among the soldiers and has the strongest..

\- Peggy ! I.. don't want to hear that now ! Tell me, be honest with me : Am I being too bossy ?

The ant scholar sighed..

\- Yes you are.. But that doesn't mean you are wrong ! I too think that we should manage more carefully human population, Most soldiers just want to have the right to kill and eat humans because that's what they want and like to do.. Hagya and the others are giving them what they want, to obtain their respect. But trust me, it is a double-edged sword, the ones that follow you, do it because they trust your judgement and thus obey it.. Hagya's will only follow him as long as he's giving them what they want.. essentially his soldiers and officers are the ones in command..

-Peggy.. Half of my soldiers feel they have to stay with me and think they were just dumb to not ask a transfer sooner.. Rammot is my strongest soldier and he's just a soldier, most of the others look up to him and think he should be given a place as an officer, they want to be under him because they think he would stand up to me and allow them to kill as they want.. They do not respect me..

Maybe it's in the nature of power to be taken by the mass..

-Humans call that.. democracy.. that's the problem, the real one.. not democracy but where it comes from : humans

-But the Queen is asking for humans !

-I think the queen has been drugged.. there must be something in humans that made her -wrongly- feel that they are nutritionally and genetically more valuable than they really are..

Colt froze at the thought that The Queen might have been abused. But he still understood that Peggy was just trying to appeal to his confirmation bias.

-Find something.. Whatever it is..

Peggy was taken aback :

-Wait ! Do you mean ?

-Don't ask questions.. It is important, we need to convince Her.. NO ! She needs to be convinced ! Human genes are becoming too prevalent ! You know what this mean for The King ?!

Of course, the condor squadron leader felt sick to even entertain such thought, it felt like betraying the trust his Queen had for him.

If it was possible, tears would run over his beige face all the way down his beak..

His chitinous arms were shaking.

Peggy wouldn't even have needed to know him well to realize the internal turmoil he was facing..

He knew him well and it didn't help.

-Leave it to me okay ? It's not a treason, you know ? She couldn't have known.. Also I've read things about salt and sugar and how they can create dependence.. Maybe.. Maybe my case will not have to be a completely made up lie, maybe I can make it an actually valid criticism of the human genetic value for our specie.

Colt smiled at his friend..

It wasn't really a smile : not only Colt's face wasn't really made for smiling but even down to the intention behind it, it was fake.. he just thought that Peggy was always there to comfort him and he deserved to be reassured for taking all that burden on his shoulders. 

* * *

« I smell something ! » Exclaimed Gon..

Along with Killua and Kite, he was searching for the source of a S.O.S. they received from a bee.  
He knew the one that wrote it, a girl he had met nearly two years back when he took the hunter exam.

Following the scent, they eventually found a scenery the likes of which you never forget :

Three dead horses were impaled on three trees.

Killua and Gon didn't react past a slight shock.

Kite however was reminded of a small bird of preys that had an habit of impaling its preys which are supposed to be frogs on branches :

« Bull-headed shrike.. It's a bird, certainly close-by, it wouldn't leave those unguarded.. »

Gon didn't even have time to admire Kite's knowledge when a partial confirmation came :

« You've stepped into private property.. TRASH ! Those are mine ! »

Behind them, the Bull-headed shrike revealed itself :

It didn't have a bull's head and wouldn't be called a bird by pretty much everyone.

No, it was a anthropomorphic rabbit with feathered arms wearing but a thong to cover its crotch.

And it was.. lunging at them !

 _Fast !_

Gon took the blow in the nose and Killua, to his arms as they were trying to parry.

 _Ouch !_

 _Without nen ! So far, the strongest human I've met that wasn't using nen is Hanzo.. That thing, It's on a whole new level ! However, without nen, it cannot defeat the likes of Gon and me.._

The both of them managed to evade most of the damage.

The rabbit monster's eyes shot to Kite who didn't move, the man was oozing a dangerous aura.

 _Who's this guy ? Dangerous ! I can't.. beat someone like that ! Damn ! I need to retreat !_

Fear was showing on its strangely human face.

However, the next thing it knew, the man was the one backing down :

« It's a chimera ant soldier, If you follow me, we'll face more like him.. If you can't defeat him, you have nothing to do here.. »

The chimera ant was too shocked by the speed that man just displayed to feel insulted yet..

« Kite, we told you : We are pros ! don't treat us like children.. »

The look in their eyes left no room for doubt about their resolve but yet again the chimera was too surprised to feel insulted yet : This time, it was the teens in front of him, something had changed, they suddenly felt much more threatening.

But it wasn't the time for the chimera to feel insulted, now it had to defend itself as the two young humans were the ones lunging at it now..

It was cornered by their attacks, they usually came from opposite directions and were very coordinated. One thing was clear :

 _They know what they're doing, I can barely parry, let alone counter attack, they are both fast and strong.._

 _THE NERVES OF THOSE HUMANS ! It's just like this last time ! They have no fear in their eyes at all and think they can defeat me ! I'll show them !_

It managed to catch a blow from Gon with its right hand and predicting the slanted eyes teen's next attack, swiped his spikey haired companion at him. The next moment, its left knee was planted into Gon's stomach who gasped despite taking no real damage.. Then it dropped his hold on the teen elbowed him in the face sending him flying..

 _Ahah ! Now le_ _t'_ _s get to the oth.._

 _!_

 _W_ _here ?_

The chimera strained its ears to locate, but a bit too late, the loud thump of the blue-eyed teen as above its head the human held lighting as a weapon..

« You gotta be ! »

It didn't have much time to exclaim anything any further as it was struck by the attack and paralyzed.

...

His back on tree, spectating the fight, Kite had a hard time believing his eyes..

 _Wow ! He's like 15 ! So that's a Zoldick ?! What he must have went through to be able to transmute lightning, it's not just experience of the pain at this point, it's deep understanding of the physics behind.._

 _Now I am really curious.. Gon.. What do you have to show !?_

His question was answered by an alarming surge of power in Gon's fist..

His question was answered by a punch that sent the paralyzed chimera flying into a tree that broke on contact..

...

Killua went after the certainly unconscious chimera only to see it being held by another one.

One with wings and a beak, one ready to fly away with Killua's preys..

However, when the winged chimera tried to take off, it felt a small discharge and was paralyzed for a moment..

 _But when !? I saw his power, it took him a while to charge and to throw ! So how ? When ?_

Before it could move the human was before him with sparks in his hands..

« Now both of you, don't move.. since you can talk I have some question for you ? »

Kite and Gon rushed to the scene to see Killua threatening the two ants.

The winged one was nervous and issued a telepathic call for help immediately :

 _ **Alert to all troops, Squadron leader Colt and Soldier Rammot down, 40 meters east to Rammot's tree.. Relay the intelligence to the Leaders Hagya, Zazan, Cheetu, Bihorn and Mantis !.. 3 rare humans, extremely dangerous.. Do not engage until enough troops is ready for the assault !**_

The bull-headed rabbit, shrike.. thingy.. was fuming..

 _F***ING TWERP ! I'll kill you !_

But wasn't dumb enough to not keep it to itself..

Kite had to admit Killua was a real pro..

-Gon, I'll need your help containing those two.

-Wow Killua ! you're awesome ! How did you do that ?

-Gon ! Don't ask him his abilities in front of the enemy or in front of anyone for that matter, secrecy is the most important part of being a hunter.

Gon apologized Sheepishly as he came closer and tried to look serious in front of the downed chimeras..

\- The bird one just got zapped and took no damage, he's waiting for a moment of inattention to flee.. Compared to the other he is smart and composed, from the bit I saw, he's also extremely fast, certainly also stronger than the other one, if he didn't put himself into a bad position trying to save his comrade, he would have been able to defeat me.. Kite, Will you allow me to interrogate them ?

Kite simply nodded with a back up hum so that Killua -that would certainly not turn around to look at him- would understand.

Gon was prepared to act if the bird chimera tried anything..

The other one, apart from looking as feisty as when they first laid eyes on it, really didn't look in shape to attempt anything..

 _Damage ? You think I am beaten ?_

 _!_

 _What's that ? Pain !_

As the adrenaline started to wear off, the rabbit started to understand the meaning of this word.

Suddenly, it coughed blood and puked..

-Rammot !.. you're..

-Rammot, uh ? So you have names ? What is yours ?

-Colt, What's happening to him ? His body seems in shape..

-I can't answer that question.

Colt looked at Gon..

 _It must have been the attack of that guy, maybe it wasn't just raw power.._

 _Dang ! One can paralyze without even touching, the other can inflict pains like that and the tall one.. It was quite obvious he's the strongest of the three.. I need to get them away from the queen.._

\- alright ! First question ! Just so you know, If you lie.. you die..

From the look in his eyes, it was obvious, he was dead serious.

-BULLSHIT !

Killua glared at the defeated rabbit.

-If you interrupt me, you die… no ? Good.. Of course if you refuse to answer or hide important information from me, you die..

\- Killuaa ! You're being harsh !

-BAKA ! They are man-eating monsters !

-Actually, we're not..

-I.. wish though..

-Rammot !

Killua shrugged it off..

-Have you ever faced humans with abilities such as mine or Gon's ?

Colt was the one to speak :

-Rammot did, 10 days ago.. a blond one with red eyes and controlling a chain..

...

 **(Well well.. I hope you didn't expect my fic to be just some random unimportant character insert.. It's going to change EVERYTHING!  
As for Killua, I am nerfing him a bit.. as a good Forum moderator, I decided to put some restrictions on his power.. to compensate, I gave him a rather handy ability.. whch will be explained later..**

 **Reviews are very welcome! English isn't my first language so I obviously have some progress to do..)**


	3. Plot Development and Lack Thereof

_**-Hagya-Sama ! Hagya-Sama !..**_

 _ **-Oye ! Down with the telepathy ! You know I hate that ! What is it that is so important you would scream in my brain like that ?**_

 _ **-We received a call from Colt's scouts, 3 rare humans, extremely dangerous, they defeated Rammot and Colt, 40 meters east to Rammot's trees..**_

 _3 ! Colt and Rammot were defeated.. Colt is top 10 and Rammot is top 25.._

 _Colt wouldn't have called just me.. Scouts must be on their way to notice Cheetu and the others.._

 _Cheetu is top 3, the moment he'll be notified, he'll run there by himself without any soldier.._

 _If I control the information I can control the timing of his intervention.._

 _If only those scouts weren't that dumb they would have contacted Flutter before me and I would have been sure to be the first notified.. Any ant can contact Flutter from any distance, Colt knows that yet he didn't.. He must want to avoid me getting all the glory for the command of the rescue and capture operation.. That Sly Hawk !_

-Flutter, you have the biggest telepathic range, tell all the scouts you are the one who will notify Cheetu, you will do it on my or Kerpico's command.

-Understood !

Flutter was some sort of anthro dragonfly and was one of the 3 top officers under Hagya, the lion chimera ant leader.

The other ones were a rat named Kerpico and a very human looking girl named Hina.

None of them were chosen for their strength :  
Kerpico was a very fine tactician from who even Hagya took advise..

And Hina.. well, let's not delve too deep into the reasons that would make her a worthy company to the king of the Jungle.

-Kerpico, gather your soldiers, the priority is to capture or kill those rare preys..

-Hagya-sama, what about Colt and Rammot ?

-The priority.. is to capture or kill those rare preys..

Kerpico knew Hagya would say that and honestly he had no arguments to plead for their life, however, he sure was going to do his best.

Kerpico was a very young ant, he hatched after the colony decided to take names for themselves, it happened about 5 days ago..

Hagya stole him from Colt -who was lacking soldiers at the time- by proposing him a place as one of his top officer.. Flutter, being a good head of intelligence of Hagya's division that he is, got to know that Kerpico had inherited some traits from the rare human Rammot faced and told everything to Hagya who decided the rat chimera would be his and his alone..

According to the reports, that rare human was stronger than the few others they met before and after the encounter, well until now...

-Three rare humans able to beat Rammot and Colt..

That sure does sound dangerous..

Froggy and his team should be close-by Rammot's trees…

Flutter, tell him to wait for me, I'll go there with my fastest soldiers, we will try to assess exactly how strong they are, until then, we shouldn't engage a real offensive.. Hagya-sama, I don't think you should come…

-I appreciate your concern Kerpico but I have to come.. You suck even more than me at using telepathy, besides you'll most likely have to focus on either talk or fight so I'll most likely be the only one that can give the call to Flutter..

-Mmh... that sounds right.. let's go

-Did you purposefully leave that aspect aside so that I could point it out to flatter my ego or are you so concerned about the need to sacrifice soldiers to scout their power that you can't think straight ?

Kerpico grinned at the remark :

 _He's getting good at it.._

-I don't think we even need to sacrifice anyone..

-So you wanted to flatter my ego, I get a point for that.. 3 points for me.. I am catching up.. And I am ready to take a bet too even it out : If none of my soldiers die, I'll make you a squadron leader !

Kerpico was taken aback, was it another of Hagya's scheme, or a riddle he had to decipher ? All the squadron leader's seat were taken.. Was he speaking about killing one or demoting one ? Did he have such power ? it's no secret that out of the squadron leaders some have more authority than the others .. At first it was Colt ruling over everyone under the queen's banner But with the birth of Zazan and Hagya, and their appointment by the queen as squadron leaders, their factions came to life too :

 _If Colt dies and I take his place ! the Power balance will turn from 45/30/25 % for Hagya, Zazan and Colt respectively to a 70/30 % for Hagya ! With such a majority against her, Zazan will have to submit her faction to his authority and Hagya will become the true King behind the scene !_

-Gotcha ! you're trying to buy time so that Colt get killed.. 5 to 3 for me, I won't let you even it out that easily, bye !

With that, Kerpico darted away with an insolent grin..

Hagya sighed :

-Dang ! he's good..

-Your little contest are becoming more and more intricate, I still don't understand how he came to that conclusion.. But sir, is it wise to let him compete against you in such a way ? what's even the point of this game ?

Flutter had followed their bout since the beginning and didn't enjoy it one bit, he found that annoying and confusing.. Most of the time, he dismissed that game as childish, time consuming and nonsensical.

-Kerpico.. I want him to consider me as his friend and we happen to both appreciate mind games, I knew some day very strong humans would come and Kerpico is my fail safe, I got some memory of being a lion, maybe if he gets some of his past life as a rare human, then I'll be the first he'll teach the secrets of their mysterious powers..

« Appreciate » was an understatement, he enjoyed it more than he'll ever admit but there was something about Flutter that made Hagya stick to the etiquette, more so than he did around Hina and Kerpico..

-You.. hold him in high regards.. if you were to choose, who'd be the best tool in your shed ?

-Don't worry Flutter, you're much more useful than him, you'll always be my right hand ant..

-Hagya-sama.. I..

\- Fool ! I obviously didn't mean it.. 18 to 0.. you're so bad at this ! I am trying to give you easy ones but no you won't score even a single counter.. you're hopeless..

Well.. etiquette, was it ?.. their relations were complex.. Apparently, Hagya felt more comfortable around Flutter than Kerpico.. Something along the line of having someone you can bully in a one-sided way I guess..

Hina, who had been rubbing Hagya's back in the whole scene, mocked the dragonfly as well with an annoying giggling sound and a way too jolly « I am the best tool in the king's shed ! »

Flutter didn't comment, he was used to these antics..

Honestly, he knew it was going to happen, it happens every time he tries to speak with his superior..

When it happened, he could have scored a counter.. Right now, according to the rules of this stupid game, he could score a double burn counter for two points by admitting that he knew but didn't want to hurt the lion's ego.

 _Maybe I could beat you at this game Hagya-sama, but I know it's not what you want.._

…

 _If you're wondering whether I am an omniscient narrator or just a faithful observer.._

 _I have to say I don't know myself.._

 _Wait If I don't know I can't be omniscient which means I'd be the observer type but then.._

 _I know.. which mean the first conclusion isn't valid anymore which invalidate the second conclusion therefore validating the first one again.._

 _And so on.. and so on.._

 _Let's not delve too deep into mechanics that aren't set in stone.._

 _There is an old Chinese proverb that says 'A man that would go through the codes of an indie game to learn something would just earn a headache'_

…

A few dozen of kilometers away and a few minutes later, Kerpico appeared to Froggy and his team..

The frog officer was named by Hagya and hated the name he was given but one does not simply contradict Hagya. He gasped when he saw Kerpico and greeted him :

-Kerpico-sama, what a pleasant surprise ! We were waiting for orders..

-Hi everyone, this is a very time sensitive matter, no all-out attack until we know what they are capable of..

We'll need strong soldiers to test them..

A rhino ant stepped in and volunteered saying that he was very tough and thus the perfect candidate.

-Good.. Meloth will supervise their level of nervousness by listening to their heart beat and report to Officer Froggy and me..

Meloth was Kerpico's right hand, he was known to have the best sense of hearing out of all the chimera ants.

-Wait a second ! does that mean I'll need to fight silently ?

-Don't worry Rhino, Meloth can simply focus on the sounds that matter. Let's go now ! We don't have time to chat.

...

A few kilometers away, in an ancient fortified drug facility where Light Nostrade was supposed to attend a rendez-vous few days earlier.. A facility that was now known as Yunju's castle.

The new owner of the place, Yunju, a centaurian squadron leader was alerted of the situation before Hagya and decided it would be a good idea to rush in, dismissing Colt's warning as the words of a weakling.

\- Boss, you're sure we should go there without any soldiers..

-What's up? Scared ? Soldiers are only good to bring trash food to the queen, for once something interesting is happening, I won't miss the opportunity to have some fun.. my dogs start to bore me..

The dogs in question were two humans on leash. They were walking on all fours and failed at doing it in an anatomically sound way : using their knees in typical human fashion and even elbows in no fashion at all..

Upon hearing their master complain about their usefulness, they started a very pitiful show : rolling on the ground, barking, waggling their tail and some other pathetic dog impression.

It didn't help them as they were soon crushed by the powerful hooves of the beast.

-See Hundra ? I need new dogs.. so unless you want to replace them, you better not be scared..

Hundra seemed to have inherited centipede's blood considering that he had sixteen arms, being part of Yunju's squadron, even as an officer, isn't really easy as the centaur is the kind of ruthless leader that would kill any of his underling that would dare to retreat from a fight.

Skita, one of the rare female ant was the other top officer under Yunju's leadership..

She had a very annoying giggle that she didn't mind dispensing whenever she found something amusing and she was easily amused like.. right now..

 _What a bunch of psycho.. but well at least I am not bored to death under Colt, that guy is the extreme opposite. Well, it might be dangerous but at least it will be fun, well that is if we at least have a fighting chance : « extremely dangerous » what the fuck it's supposed to mean ?!_

 _..._

By the time, Kerpico united with Froggy's team, Yunju and two of his best officers already met with Kite, Killua and Gon.

But if we skip to this moment, we'll have to skip the reaction of Gon to Colt's comment.

We'll have to skip the moment you've all been waiting for in the last 6 minutes reading this chapter..

That does sound like a very good idea !

But I guess I'll just delay it for next week..

If you discover this story with a bunch of chapter already, wait for the next week to read next chapter.. Studies has shown that it's better for.. er.. whatever..

…

 **Since I was late on my upload I thought I'd make a longer chapter and that I'd put Gon's reaction in.. But that wasn't considering how much of a terrible person I am..**

 **HeHeHe..**


	4. Powerless and controlled

**I said "next week" last month.. I guess I'll develop the issues I faced with this chapter further down..**

 **Just.. Sorry peeps..**

* * *

Both Killua and Gon, never had any friend before they took the hunter exam.

For them, Kurapika was one of the first and best friend they ever had..

Colt's description was unequivocal, « a blond one with red eyes and controlling a chain ».

In most cases, ten words wouldn't be enough to target just one individual out of so many.. But in Kurapika's case, those ten simple words felt like a definition.

Gon's aura flared in a threatening manner.

-G..

But before anyone could notice or comment, Killua had a hole in his neck…

…

Dang ! I can't find anything to switch the focus on without making too much of a mess of my narration..

Could it be that I will have to explain what just happened right away ?

No ! I will not accept it ! I will make you WAIT !

…

Let's sneak a peek into Yunju's psyche :

 _I can't wait to see those new dogs, Maybe I should try to .._

Wow wow wow ! that's definitely not PG-13 !

What about Hundra, the centipede ant officer ?

He's running behind Yunju at the side of his mosquito colleague.

He seems to be the most sane one in this group..

He must be apprehensive, I am sure he has a lot of interesting thing on his mind :

 _What a lovely bouncing motion !_

Bouncing motion ? Wait, what is he looking at ?..

Ow ! C'mon !

If you did not get the joke, you're very lucky.. Now let's try to find something else to divert your attention from what interests you..

I guess I could make up a random joke about a nightmare Hagya would have had involving bug spray and a cliché « No ! Bug spray ! My only weakness ! Ugh ! » and then he explodes and subsequently wake up with a surprisingly high pitched roar..

Wait, did I just write that ?

… Shit !

Well I guess I could just delete all that and rewrite it in a narrative style.. but that just doesn't feel right..

Let's just stay away from those pervs from now and get to the meat of it.. No, Not that.. meat.. that's an expression.

Now if you still do not get that joke, you're even more lucky than the last time..

But rest assured, I'm going to make sure you're not so lucky anymore before the end of this chapter..

…

Killua had a hole in his neck..

But I can't really just tell you what that mean just yet, there needs to be a dramatic feeling to it..

Which I most likely already screwed up to be honest.

But Kite saw everything and he should have the right to comment because it's like in mangas, when something impressive happens, the characters would rather praise their opponent's feat rather than act..

 _Fast !_

I'm calling it right now it's going to become a running joke, half of the fight-related thought will include the word « fast »..

Anyway let's resume :

 _The window of opportunity was really small. It can't even be said that Killua failed to maintain attention at this point._

Indeed in that moment when Gon's anger flared, Kolt remained focused while Killua's faltered.

Ultimately Kolt had the advantage of not being human : For Kolt, the only survival that mattered was the queen's.

In that moment, he realized the threat was even greater than he had anticipated, he realized that the threat was real enough for him to risk his life to deal with it and took action.

« Whatever you're doing ! Stop ! Or your friend gets it ! » He shouted to Gon as he had Killua restrained and a finger in his neck menacing to rip through what's inside..

Gon was taken aback, it was the first time he was interrupted while he was showing his power.

Usually everyone act impressed and that's all.

He didn't want to believe that Killua would end up in such a predicament because of him..

When he saw the monstrous finger in his friend's neck, something broke inside..

But to the young assassin, it was clear he was the one to blame. He was the one to have made a mistake : he underestimated his opponent.

« Gon..It's not your fault »

Kolt didn't care about the two young hunters anymore, his eyes were directed to the man behind..

He knew that if he asked Rammot to capture the other kid, the man was going to act to save at least one of them and what he'd do to save the other kid was something Kolt feared greatly.

He still had to test the waters, evaluate the character of the real threat :

 _He's waiting for my conditions ! He's leaving me the initiative ! What could it mean ?_

 _He's calm, composed.. he doesn't seem to be in state of hesitation or mental turmoil or has he simply trained himself to rid himself of the visible signs of hesitation.. Does it show on my face ?_

 _Let's just try this !_

« Rammot ! Get up ! »

« I..I.. » Rammot tried to cough a protest.

« I wouldn't do that if I were you. »

 _He's trying to lock the situation, he doesn't want Rammot to wake despite how little it would matter. That means ! He's trying to be assertive and look sure of himself but he doesn't know how to solve this problem, he didn't even dared to order me.. The cards are in my hands !_

« Rammot ! it's an order ! »

Rammot had never felt so powerless before. The only thing he could think of was revenge.

Yes, he wanted to get up and kill that spiky haired brat, he wanted to do all kinds of creepy and gross stuff to him, including of course impale him on a tree.

But all the power fantasies he'd built ever since he was defeated only served to remind him of the reasons of his anger : he had been beaten ! And now, he felt closer to death than to revenge.

« I wouldn't keep giving him orders if I were you. »

They had kept their eyes locked onto one another's for the whole exchange but it was when the tension spiked up. However the new-found tension was apparently one-sided : For Kite it seemed nothing had changed.

But after a few second in which nothing happened, Kolt came up with the wittiest response he could come up with, something that he could relate to, something that would sound true.

_ Does it make you feel confident to not repeat yourself ? You think it shows you have more authority, it just shows you have no experience in handling complicated cases like Rammot here ..

_ I couldn't care less, I am not a leader but between the two of us, I know who is more experienced in handling fights.

_ We're not fighting and even if you do consider that stalemate a fight, I have the advantage here.

_ What if your hostage zap you and I take the opportunity to take your head ?

_ I took action fully aware of this possibility. If the risk was real, it would have happened earlier..

Kite sighed and broke eye contact with Kolt. He looked at Gon who felt pretty much as powerless as Rammot and Killua for that matter.. Yep.. kinda sucks to be them right now..

Killua keeps hearing a weird irrelevant message in his head about fleeing away, which is something he can't do anyway..

Gon.. I don't really know, there is something.. something dark that wouldn't let me in.

Anyway.. Rammot is fuming as usual..

As for Kolt, he knew that the Queen's life or death could be decided in this next second, a matter of acting or not, no ! a matter of how to act. He knew he had to take any turns even if just for stalling, he had to take control So when he saw that window of opportunity opening in front of his eyes, when he saw Kite looking away from him, he had one thing on his mind :

 _Now ! Now ! I can get it ! I can get his head ! But why ? He saw my speed ? What is he hiding ?_

 _Is he counting on my hesitation ? But he saw that I do not hesitate even a single moment when I am given the opportunity to do something.. He's going to say something, it's going to be a complete shift of paradigm ! He is going to change the conditions.. That.. means he's going to take control of the situation ! But somehow.. I feel he hasn't created any opening ! Ever since the start of our contest, He hasn't left me a turn that he hadn't planned.._

_ Gon, I am sorry..

In this moment, Kolt joined Killua, Gon and Rammot out of the game..

He felt every bit as powerless as them as his only means of leverage, the value of his hostage, was taken away from him..

* * *

 **It's been very hard to write that, I've been very hesitant..**

 **Of course there was the issue about handling Gon's emotions.. I've tried a lot to put description of his feelings here and there and it was so messy!**

 **And yeah.. Killua..**

 **At first, it came out as a joke, I was emboldened by the previous Cliffhanger and thought it would be a good joke to put the chapter's cliffhanger.. right at the beggining! Yeah pretty crazy! right?**

 **Then I realized I just didn't have enough to fill a whole chapter without talking about Killua's predicament anymore..**

 **When you read the silly parts at the beginning, Do you feel like I was trying to hard?**

 **Even now it's posted, I can't believe I am actually going down this path, it's so different than what I planned when I thought about this story..**

 **At first, it was all about making Killua and Cheetu fight.. Then I read the comment of someone saying he'd like to read a fic about one of the four main char as an ant and immediately thought about Kurapika because you know.. clan, extermination, etc.. it was the obvious choice..**

 **And now I realize that it's going to be much harder than I thought to conciliate all those feelings into a coherent story..**

 **So.. anyone wanna beta read and have a say?**

 **Also.. I don't think I am going to come back to the once per week I originally planned..**


	5. Pain and the horse

**Sorry for the horrible pun in the title, especially because I am proud of it..**

 **If you don't get it, repeat it many times as fast as you can..**

...

« Gon, I am sorry.. »

Four words twisting into his heart, Gon was torn between being fair to the pride they had claimed earlier when they boldly announced that they were professionals and the life of his best friend.

The forest was silent, too silent. No birds were chirping, no rustling sound to be heard as the wind itself seemed to avoid to take part in the scene.

Until it wasn't so silent anymore : Kite had summoned a very talkative rod with a particularly annoying voice and demeanor :

« Crazy slot »

The cheerfulness of the summoned object made it all the more foreign and didn't appease the tension in the slightest.

« Please, just shut up and roll already. » Kite made it clear he was dead serious and wouldn't accept arguments and Crazy slot reluctantly accepted..

The rod opened its clown mouth but this time it wasn't to talk : numbers started to roll in a cash machine fashion and he ended up getting a « 3 ».

 _Three ! Impossible !_

Kite managed to keep his poker face but he was shocked and confused. The ever so slight change in his expert aura wouldn't go unnoticed, that he was sure of.

It was the first time he got the third slot, he had to guess why he got it and how to use it before the count of nine minutes. If he failed to do so, he would loose the usage of Nen forever and possibly much more.

The summoned rod's expression changed from pissed off by being made to shut up to smug.

That one change wasn't ever so slight but blatantly obvious and if there was any remaining doubt Colt would notice something before, there was none anymore.

« Well, well, well.. » Crazy Slot smirked : it had been a while since the last time it had posed a challenge to its master.

Colt could only watch curious as the Rod morphed into something that looked like a scepter or a mace with a shamrock looking head.

The most dangerous weapons the ants ever faced were guns and they didn't particularly fear them. Sure it stung like hell when shot in the back but most of the time they were the one ambushing the armed humans and were able to catch or deflect the bullets rather easily.

The appearance of this weapon wasn't threatening by any standards and Colt was left confused but it was better than be desperate : he had a feeling he just came back into the game and that he might even have a winning position.

Meanwhile, Gon had made his choice.

He dropped to his knees, tears drawing, towards the ground, the shape of his face.

« Please » he muttered, his voice was as broken as his spirit.

Colt couldn't help but feel pity for the teenage boy, he wasn't the same as before : it wasn't anger anymore, it was just pure despair and it was resonating with the condor's soul or was it the soul of a little boy so desperate to save his little sister that his last plea survived the ant queen's phagogenesis.

Colt was a very protective and brave ant : that resolve set before even his conception by a promise to his past self's mother that he would protect Reina, his little sister.

Rammot, however, was.. fuming.. well.. some more.. I guess.. cause he never really stopped.

But well, the amount of hatred and disgust he had for those humans especially for Gon in particular, spiked up.

He didn't know yet to who the young warrior's plea was addressed but he had a feeling he was going to hate the human even more once he found out..

Is it possible for Rammot to hate him even more ?

Take it as an absolute and general rule : Whether it has to sneak in, slip in or barge in, wherever hate can go there is always room for more hate

« Please.. Let Killua go and we.. we'll both leave this place, we won't ever bother you again ! I am sorry I trespassed into your territory ! I am sorry I hurt Rammot ! We just wanted to train ! »

He had spoken, or cried for that matter, the truth of his heart but that truth was very unfair to the ants.

Rammot couldn't find the words to express how much he hated the boy and Colt cut him to the line with a more tactful analysis of the situation :

« Those terms are unacceptable, huma.. Gon.

You're asking me to gamble on the usefulness of my life's act against the biggest threat we've ever faced..

Either I let him go and I may have possibly got rid of two of you if you respect your words or I kill him and I am guaranteed to have gotten rid of one out of three of you.

Also, your friend's ability is very good for support as it can paralyze which might be key for you to defeat our strongest assets..

Even if the strongest of you had proposed that all three of you would leave, I wouldn't have considered it because it's obvious he at least is not here to train and has other motives : he showed a rather specific set of knowledge on an avian specie from which Rammot inherited some instinct that Rammot himself didn't know and knew that we were ants which implies he is a biologist that knows what's happening here. And from what I've heard from our scholar, human biologists go to lengths even I wouldn't go to ensure everything is under control.

Besides, it does look like a thorn has made its way in the side of your leader and since your behavior changed after it happened, that might just be an act from your part trying to fix the situation»

It was a long monologue that no one interrupted.

That last jab had hurt, Gon had no idea and turned to Kite, the eyes full of one very relevant question.

The question wasn't answered.

Kite had hung onto the chimera ant's every words despite the intrusion of some new guest into his En. He still entertained the hope to defuse the situation for Killua's sake but after hearing the speech concluded that the chimera ant named Colt knew too much and was too loyal to allow any kind of compromise.

The ant leader had also admitted that even if he accepted to abort the mission, he wouldn't let him go to not take the risk to be fooled which would waste his effort. The hunter had to admit Colt was right and that even though he usually was a man of his words, he wouldn't have minded blurring the line if it might have saved Killua. Kite and Colt had this trait in common, they weren't going to drop their mission.

However, Kite didn't know what to make of that roll and he only had eight minutes and a few seconds to figure it out.

 _There is only two roll of which I have yet to know the effects, the two abilities I never had to use : three and nine._

 _Within those two there should be one ability to resurrect and the other to face someone much faster than me._

 _Either I will die or face someone very fast in the next eight minutes or so.._

Rammot had never seen this side of his leader.

Not the boring side of course, that he had already seen. Ô yes he had !

However, until then, he had always thought Colt was a pompous failure of a leader with a soft spot for humans, he just realized now that Colt was a better leader than he could ever be.

 _How come he's so composed in this situation ? How come he can think straight ?_

Despite a new-found drop of respect for his squadron leader, the bull-headed Shrabbit didn't stop fuming.. obviously..

« He's right, Gon.. It's not a good deal. Remember the Bombers ? The ones they killed knew the risk when they entered Greed island.. I knew the risk when I decided to follow Kite.

I'm sure you'll find your father and I don't think he's here.. »

Killua smiled to his friend. When he used the example of the bombers, he wanted Gon to remember his own words when he pardoned the bombers despite everything, he wanted Gon to give the ants that same respect, to leave even without him and especially without hate. Not that he cared for the ants, he feared for Gon's life if he got blinded by hate.

What could have made for a great farewell was interrupted by a rude rowdy centurion bully when Yunju, who heard everything after Gon's plea came barging in and started to mock pretty much everyone involved :

« Mooahahhah ! 'I am sorry I hurt Rammot'. Aahah ! it's just too good ! »

His two cronies -the centipede dude and the mosquito girl- followed suit with their own mocking laughter (Gosh they're annoying !) and Rammot was.. well fuming.. well he wanted to tear them to pieces, shit in their skull and impale them on tree trunks so nothing out of the ordinary for Rammot. I am starting to believe he's a very linear character..

« Yunju ! Why did you engage ? » cut Colt, resolute to put some seriousness back into the situation.

« Ow you know.. I wanted to seize that 'biggest threat we've ever faced' thingy.. MOohahhah »

That was one hell of a _cocky_ stallion..

Oups I did it again.. I played with your..

I am going to stop here.. No one want to know what I played with.

Now if you still don't get it after all this time, it's not luck anymore, I can't do anything against you, you're immune to my crudeness.. Though, I hope you're not 6 years old because it might get gory in the future but well, considering how fast I upload those, you should reach 13 before that happens..

Anyway..

For Gon, begging wasn't an act, he was sincere.

He didn't feel insulted by Colt, he understood his reasons.

Yet here he was, denied, with renewed anger and new enemies begging to be punched.. Hard !

He stood up and faced the three ants as they looked down on him, his expression that of an abyss gazing right back at them.

One of them in particular,

"You're their leader, right? I challenge you!"

Apparently he wasn't interested:

"Get him!"

Will that big chunk of meat be too much for Gon to chew?

Ew! ew! ew! Gross!

...

 **Changed the language of open office to English at the end, couldn't bear the red waves everywhere.. Apparently, it changed how some characters look like the "..." who where like that «...» before and are now like that "..." as well as some layout rules like whether you get to put a space or not after or before a few things (mainly ' , . : ! ? etc) ..**


	6. Prey with one hand and scissors

**Dang peeps! So weird! that's legit creepypasta material I've got there!**

 **I logged in on march the 6** **th** **, 3 days after my 23** **rd** **birthday.. 6, 3+3=6, 2*3=6 : 6,6,6**

 **Wait for it!**

 **The captcha I had to enter to log in was '1666' and it was indeed the first '666' I encountered that day.**

 **It's not over, when I checked the stats of my fanfic 'Ari no Kurapika' I realized with horror that it had exactly 666 views in total!**

 **Not done yet!**

 **By adding the views on all chapters I got in march, I got a new '6'**

 **If you multiply the views count and visitors count on the prologue from march 2017, you get a new '6'..**

 **And if you add all the remaining views and visitors from march 2017 on the other chapters, you get the third '6'..**

 **Again, '666'!**

 **It creeped me out so much that I delayed the publication of the next chapter by -one- two more month..**

 **lol**

...

"Mel, report?"

" _ **The main target seems to be able to perceive anything in a 42 meters radius around him..**_ "

Meloth, usually spoke in telepathy. Right now, the moth captain didn't really have a choice : He went scouting and his small voice wouldn't allow him to reach the hears of his team mates..

" _ **How did you come to this conclusion?**_ "

Kerpico was genuinely shocked, Meloth wasn't usually that vague. Yes, Kerpico considered that a 42 meters radius around the target was vague. His second usually went in details about the sense of hearing, smell and touch of the targets.

" _ **I made sure to be absolutely invisible, no natural senses should have been able to detect me yet 2 times he managed to do so and that was approx. 42 meters away from him.. Obviously, I tested from two different directions.. Furthermore, the second time I entered his 'Ultimate perception radius' he tried to control his reaction..**_ "

" _ **.. Which means he knew that you knew he detected you the first time which in turn means he was able to.. read your mind? Or at least decipher your intent.. that's even more scary than your ears!**_ " Kerpico concluded.

" _ **However Captain, that's not all for my report.. He created an object out of nothing, a..seemingly random occurrence happened and he was greatly disturbed by the result, I think the disturbance was akin to dread, puzzlement, maybe a sense of impending doom but with a big question mark behind it all and it was so faint.. I didn't expect such self control to be even possible on such a spectrum of emotions.. Also General Yunju, along with Captain Hundra and Skita have initiated aggressive contact..**_ "

" _ **uh Dude, I take it back, your ears are way more scary!...**_ Alright everyone, Officer Meloth has scouted some interesting information so here is what we're going to do..."

…

"Get him!"

"Saisho wa gū..."

The young boy was too bold for the stallion's liking, He had assumed a weird stance and was apparently charging up an attack in his right fist.

As much as Hundra was.. well let's be blunt, shitting his pants at the sudden surge of power, Skita was getting excited at the thought of fighting the young boy.

The centipede captain had an idea and blurted it out as confidently as he could :

"What's up boss? Afraid of the little boy?"

Maybe he should have thought about the potential consequences because his boss surprisingly didn't appreciate the comment and before he knew it, he had the powerful grip of the centaur on his head, holding him in the air and menacing to squash him.

"Maybe you should fight him one on one? You would like that, right?"

The underling had no choice but to accept even though it wasn't necessary and he was thrown on the ground toward Gon.

"Jan.. ken.."

Before he could stand and guard himself, Gon had stepped on his face and used him as a springboard to lunge at the centaur behind.

"PON!" He screamed as his balled and heavily powered-up fist was thrown toward the smug face of the towering chimera who far from being surprised held a vicious and sadistic grin.

He opened his palm and caught the teen's head, Gon's arm was too short to reach the intended target as the smugness intensified on Yunju's face..

"Playing a game without knowing the rules, eh?.. Didn't you know Paper beats Rock? Eh?"

His sneer, though, was interrupted and blood was spilled from his open throat..

Gon had used 'Scissors' instead as Yunju opened himself in a boastful manner. Now the proud beast was gasping and clinging at his throat..

No punchline was needed, It was more bad-ass for Gon to just shut up and keep a straight face.

"You.. FILTH! Head.. *gasp* CRUSH! AHHHHHHH!"

Gon had prepared for that and was focusing all of his aura onto his skull but even then the pressure was extreme..

Now Yunju was surprised, he didn't expect any kind of resistance..

"DIIIIIIEEE!"

 _Am I going to die? What can I do? If I try anything, my head will be crushed.. My head is boiling.. Too much Aura.._

Kite sighed internally, a new ant soldier entered his En just right when he had decided to act and save Gon. He knew it wasn't an accident, their new guest was confident and wouldn't let him intervene, it was in this new guest's interest to bide his time in this situation and he may have been walking but it was clear he was ready to take actions..

Kite had a lot to consider.. The situation had become extremely complicated with that roll..

Crazy Slot was contractually bound to create designs that hint to what the roll is supposed to do.

As a weapon, it didn't seem to have much use, upon discreet inspection using En, so as to not bring too much attention to his own unawareness, he found nothing of relevance that could help against a fast opponent and had to start considering that he was going to die and that there was nothing he could have possibly done in the last 3 minutes to avoid that fate.

But if it was really 'Like Hell I'm gonna die!', he had nothing to lose to keep investing the anti-speed possibility because the resurrection power would activate by itself upon an inevitable death which means he at least didn't have to figure out how to use it.

As a drawback, he had to figure out when was the moment from which onwards he had no chance to survive anymore knowing that the moment in question happened before the roll. Crazy Slot, upon creation when the contract was written, demanded that condition be added when it realized the resurrection was too easy to achieve.

However, Kite had no difficulty at all to figure it out for it was blatantly obvious.

He knew about the fantastic hearing of moth and the new soldier, a rat chimera ant, entering his En alone and confident just confirmed his suspicions:

"Like Hell I'm gonna die.. The moth told the rat." he declared to test his theory.

The smile on Crazy Slot's face widened:

"Condition met! As was stated in our contract, since you didn't get to use all 9 rolls, you loose our game and I win the right to grant myself a wish!"

Hearing that, Kerpico barged into the scene :

"Wait!"

"Mister Rat, here you are! You have all my thanks! Though.. I have been waiting my whole life for this moment! I don't wish to wait anymore.."

"I had suspicions that you would mean death for him, now I am sure but if he dies, will you not die too?"

Kerpico knew where he wanted to go, he was going to get the most of this situation. The long haired man wasn't the threat anymore but that creature was a real problem..

"Yes indeed, I could wish to be reborn as your king?"

"NO!" came the booming voice of Colt..

One moment of shock, It was enough for Killua to break free and in a flash as the atmosphere changed, he turned around as his pupils turned to slit and his arms, as undecipherable clawed whips moved to the defense of his head against the assault of the squadron leader who had recovered and was keen in not letting his prey escape his talons.

 _Been a while since I flipped my switch on._

Colt's left hand was struck, his exoskeleton shattered and blue blood was spilled.

The snake had awakened and it wasn't just there for defense.

Skita was amazed.

Hundra was scared.

Yunju wasn't much concerned by anything else than popping Gon's skull and clinging a his own throat.

Crazy Slot wasn't pleased, he wanted to be the center of attention for once and was ready to snap.

Kite wasn't particularly surprised and was trying to find a way to get Gon and Killua out of this.

Rammot was.. you know exactly what he was doing..

Gon didn't see anything.

Meloth had to shut down his hearing. The scream of the snake was hurting him. He immediately notified Kerpico who wasn't going to let someone that just needs to agitate his arms to hinder Meloth's hearing get away.

As for Colt, as his pupils and perception of time and were compressed to their limit, his expression wasn't any less serious and threatening than Killua's.

...

 **Been a while.. I have a lot on my mind currently so don't expect a new chapter in a week as an apology x'D**

 **It's going to be a slow and steady work..**


	7. Prowler and the wish

"As was stated in our contract, since you didn't get to use all 9 rolls, you loose our game and I win the right to grant myself a wish!"

" _ **Shit! Now Flutter! Tell him!**_ _"_

Hagya didn't need to wait for Kerpico's reaction to know it was bad news. He immediately notified Flutter to unleash the cheetah and Kerpico that the cheetah had been unleashed.

Based on the distance he had to travel which was roughly 17 032 meters and 28 centimeters, and the time he would spend considering why Flutter himself was the one notifying him, they estimated it would take him 18,76 seconds to come and kill the target.

Kerpico was counting down every hundredth of each seconds to give his own call at the exact right moment to the troupes lying in ambush in a 45 meters radius circle around the target.

The claws of Killua and Colt were about to clash but now wasn't the time to focus on petty things..

 _0.09 s, 0.08 s, 0.07 s_

" _NOW!"_

Suddenly, 47 ants entered Kite's En, coming from all direction and rushing towards him.

 _Well they're all pretty slow, what's your plan, mister Rat?_

Kite lowered his En to gather his aura into his body preparing for the fight. __

 _0.01 s.._

He didn't have time to understand that he got his answer when the 48th ant entered what remained of his En, faster than he could retract it.. He didn't have time to usher a single thought. His brain didn't even have time to process the speed, let alone adapt to it..

The cheetah was too fast to be praised for his speed.

The cheetah was about to rip Kite's heart out and nothing, not even Kite's nen flow was fast enough to prevent it..

…

However, there was one thing the rat didn't have time to do, rushed as he was by the call of the lion..

He neglected to take the time to adapt his plan to one particular new factor, the one thing that forced the plan to be rushed.

…

When Crazy Slot felt the 47 ants enter Kite's En, their En, he had enough.

"STAND STILL! IT'S MY MOMENT!"

...

And here they were : all standing still, like frozen in time.

Even those that were performing a jump attack, still, stuck in the air, which looked kinda weird.

It was the power of a wish, surely in Crazy slot's mind, as realization hit it, it was a waste.

Now I suppose y'all have one question in your mind :

What about Colt and Killua? Because no one cares about Kite, right? Except Gon.. I mean seriously, in the cannon, Killua could have used Alluka to wish the Kite puppet free from puppet-hood and back to life, instead, _Well let's duke it out with Pitou and force it/him/her whatever! to restore him! There's no way it turns ugly!_ Fat chance, Moron!

Well anyway, Colt and Killua were going to kill each other! I couldn't let that happen, could I?  
I mean I hate Killua! But it's not like I can prevent his fated battle of speed against Cheetuh.

Togashi made us wait 2 years for it, hiatus after hiatus, and right when it was the moment for it, he decided he wanted to be edgy as fuck and blue-ball us all!

I try not to be edgy, I mean, I am really bad at trying to not be edgy, but there are things that needs to happen in a story for example the fight between the hero and the main villain, or between a sidekick and an enemy sidekick with a similar power..

I mean sure, I am not a genius like Togashi, I am.. well terrible at storytelling and writing too..

Alright, I get it..

Kite's not dead..

There, I said it..  
Cheetuh was stopped in time.

"Well, old friend, that's one hell of a wish!"

"Don't tease me, I feel awful!"

"Please, let those two go"

"I'm not letting anyone go, y'all be here stuck with me forever, I'm not dying! I'm not! what guarantees do I have? This mark the end of our contract after all."

Deep stuff lol..

"er.. Crazy Slot, is it? I don't know anything about those contract, But I suppose if you bring that up, it's because you can sign a new one.. and I am ready to sign a contract with you, If you're in this predicament, it's partly my fault, I've been a pretty efficient enemy.. Take my life and Let my people go"

"I can't do that, rat, I can only.."

"Shhh!"

"'Shhh!' What? 'Shhh!' don't tell him you can only lift the curse you've made and nothing else?"  
The rat officer had a smug look on his face.

Kite sighed :  
"Shit, you messed up big time Crazy Slot"

"what?! It's not like it's going to help them to have that information"

"Ow really? Well the thing is I wouldn't have dared showing my face if I wasn't sure your little wish credit was fully depleted, eh! Good job Kerpico!"

Hagya entered the scene, obviously he was confident : it showed in his stride, on his face, in his speech, well he's exulting confidence. I'm sure so much confidence isn't healthy but I am not a veterinarian.

Gon's ears perked up, unlike Killua, he hadn't been able to see the rat chimera for himself and had no clue who he was.

"Kurapika?"

Killua was in a stare-down with Colt ever since they were petrified, they had been going to kill each other, each one warrior's claws ready to rip the head of the other.

Killua was amazed, with only one hand, Colt had been able to pierce through the defense of the awakened snake.

When the white haired boy heard his friend call that name, in the way he called it, he felt his heart break.

He had recognized who the rat was on first sight, he had been preparing himself to encounter ants with red eyes or with a similar way of speaking but he didn't expect to see a clone with a rat face and such a similar name, It's as if he still was Kurapika, as if he just changed a bit, transformed.. But that wasn't it, he was eaten, digested, and this one was given birth using some components taken from Kurapika.

"What did you just say, human? Where did you get that name?"

Kerpico wasn't sure if he had heard it before or not, it just felt familiar and.. warm..

Rammot started to chuckle..

"Nope! No chuckling! No more stupid talk! It's my moment! Dang! I get why the Clown rod thingy was pissed off! Super annoying when you got your moment to shine and some stupid sub-plot starts to enfold at your side, ew! Don't do that! I'm here to kill those rare humans, be the hero of the queen and the hill and get what I want! I am not here to listen to back-stories of lives PAST!"

"Bro exactly! Last chapter 6 months ago, I was all like 'eheheh maybe I could wish to be reborn as your king' and that fucktard here be all like 'Nuhhh' and then shit happens, his hand goes 'scrunch' and 'splortch' and then those two moron are all like 'nyeheh look at how fast I'm moving my hands! Bet you can't move your hands faster than me'"

Hagya and Crazy Slot kept talking about the terrible oppression they had suffered at the hand of ruthless authors.

Killua and Colt were triggered. What happened between them were serious stuff, not some kind of joke.  
And everyone else were getting annoyed too, you know they were kinda petrified and forced to listen to the only two that weren't petrified lamenting themselves.

Kerpico took was the first to intervene: "Can we get to decide what's going to happen now?"

"Right, right.. which one do I kill first?"

Hagya approached Killua, watched him closely, licking his lips in front of Colt to tease him a bit..

Obviously came Colt's reprimand who didn't get it was a joke.

Kite had renewed his contract with Crazy Slot for his next life if he released the boys but Crazy Slot didn't want to release Killua without notifying his new lion buddy..

"Go ahead I prefer when they run anyway" was his response..

"Hagya! they're dangerous!" Colt wasn't done reprimanding the lion, he was one for efficiency, not for games.

"Hey brat, when you're freed, I am your opponent, this guy isn't going anywhere, so you don't need to finish your little swipe, not that I care, honestly, I couldn't care less, he's been a thorn in my side for a while but I know someone that care and from what I gathered you know or knew him too"

Killua had a serious look on his face as he was freed from the wish..  
He let Colt live and stretched his muscles and body. He was sore from having his movement stopped so abruptly, he was past the initial pain, it was more a lumbago now.

Gon did the same with Yunju, he just wanted to see his former friend so he turned around in the direction of the petrified rat chimera..

He was shocked by the appearance, not because it was a rat, but because it really looked like Kurapika..

He asked one question :

"Kurapika, Who are they to you?"

He got the answer he didn't want to get, the answer he knew he'd get:

"My clan"


	8. Promise and sacrifice

**Few! I am done with my internship! the past 7 months with barely any internet and doing 12 hours a day was so intense! but now, I have a job.. I am officially a professional 3D animator!..**

 **...**

When Killua and Gon were released from the curse of Crazy Slot's wish, Hagya wasted no time and had a telepathic conversation with Kerpico and Colt about their powers :

" _ **So, basically this white haired guy is fast, deadly and can paralyse with ranged lightning and touch and the black haired one is strong and tough and both of them can mess up my organs if I allow them to touch me?**_ "

" _ **That's not all, White hair is also able to charge things he touches so don't walk into his footstep he could be able to set electric mines wherever he walks and Black hair plays Rock paper scissors, Rock is a balled fist melee attack, Scissor cuts, as for paper..**_ "

" _ **Paper is a weak long range attack, he never uses it**_ " finished Kerpico.

" _ **Think about it, What's rock for the sheet of paper? Something to corner, How do you corner an equal in speed that is tougher and stronger than you and can only attack at short range? With longer range. The problem with that technique is that he is a rock himself, so when he faces someone sturdier and stronger, his paper is too weak to win the game**_ "

" _ **However it doesn't really matter how 'sturdy' I am if I can't let myself be hit by either of them.**_ "

Colt added something else :

" _ **The aura thing can move through their bodies and be focused on particular spots, that's apparently how Black hair was able to withstand Yunju's pressure on his skull and how he was able to cut through his skin.. Also it appears that the process is entirely conscious..**_ "

" _ **So if they can't see from where I attack, they can't focus their defense to where I'll hit them, so using my superior speed and my claws, I should be able to tear them to shreds easily, They'll probably protect their arteries and throat whenever they can't see me, so it will probably take a bit of time for them to bleed out.**_ "

Hagya chuckled internally :

 _This is gonna be a blast!.._

...

"My clan.."

Hagya was eyeing Gon for a sign that he would try to say anything. He didn't want anyone to start a conversation that wasn't about him.

When Gon tried to say something, he roared.

He roared so loud and deep that it shook the earth.

The leaves fled from their branches in a mile radius of soul ripping fear, they flew upward and suddenly it was dark. The eyes of the lion tore through the night of leaves.

They were the brightest thing around.

It was easy to pinpoint his location.

Not particularly hard either to make an educated guess about where and thus what he's staring at and therefore focusing on.

Despite the speed of the attack, Killua was able to react accordingly as the eyes made it clear the lion aimed at the throat of a certain dark haired boy.

It all happened in a flash.

Faced with the certainty Gon would die, Killua found within himself the speed he needed to save him.

When the darkness subsided, The lion and the assassin didn't even make eye contact..

An arm had been torn and blood was gushing from the stump.

Only the lion had turned around.

The assassin declared :

"He's my best friend! Don't expect it to be easy!"

"Easy?" came the lion's roar.

 _Don't fight on.. retreat!_

Could it be Killua was just trying to reassure himself?The ant captain was licking the blood from his arm.

"I expected it to taste better"

Killua had instinctively refrained from turning around.

Because had he done so, he would have put his stump right under Gon's nose.

 _When you're loosing blood, retreat and tend to your wound. When the opponent is stronger, retreat!_

 _If you can't retreat, use Gon as a bait!_

"Gon, I'm okay.. It doesn't hurt"

But although he wasn't lying, Killua was crying inside.

 _You can't have friends.. you'll only end up killing them.. RETREAT!_

Gon freaked out and screamed as his aura flared.

"Your clan!? Bunch of Monsters! Worse than the phantom troupe! Kurapika wouldn't have wanted to live that way! You have no righ to talk with that voice! To see with those eyes!"

Kerpico was confused, he didn't know what the phantom troupe was yet it felt so familar. He didn't understand why the boy enraged : It was a fair fight and..

"Why are you so angry at us when you're the one who knowingly came here for blood?! No! You're not angry at us, you're angry at yourself. It's your fault your friend lost his.."

"SHUT UP!"

Gon hadn't even turned around to look at the lion.

" _ **So white hair hasn't used the opportunity to zap me yet, which means the arm I have in my hand isn't charged which means I can eat it.. Wait! What if he has a range.. I am about 11 meters away from him.. maybe 10 meters, but if that was the case, he would have approached me to close up the distance and zap me.. more like between 2 and 6 meters, Maybe that's what he meant by 'don't expect it to be easy'.. But he hasn't tried to scout for how much info I have on his power, if he had just walked up to me and forced me to walk back, he would have won a precious information.. which means, he think I am ignorant about it all and believes he'll be able to zap me whenever he wants!**_ _"_

Hagya was cut short in telepathy as Gon walked resolute and murderous towards Kerpico..

"Hey! You bastard! don't ignore me! I'll kill your friend and eat him!"

Gon just kept walking : "You're next.."

Hagya wanted to pounce on the human and tear him apart but he realized the electric guy was between them.

 _Doesn't matter, that won't reveal anything! It could just be interpreted as a taunt._

He threw the arm towards Gon and had to wait for a reaction before he could intervene..

The teen caught the arm but no further reaction came and he resumed his intense walking.

However, the lack of reaction was enough justification for the lion ant to pounce as he had originally intended..

Kerpico tried to stop him :

" _ **Don't! it's a trap!**_ "

He had no time to explain..

" _ **Don't worry, I know.. it will be fine..**_ "

Suddenly, Gon turned around and threw the arm back toward Hagya.

" _Ah! they're so easy to read! I wouldn't have taken the arm in the first place if I didn't know how to counter the paralysis! If every use of your powers have to be conscious then the processing speed limitations of your brains are the limits to your power's activation speed! By taking the arm in the first place not only I tested a theory without taking any risks because I could have just dropped it before the power could activate, but I also made you think I didn't know about that power of yours! You are the ones who fell into a trap!"_

Wow! Wow! Seriously! You guys are thinking way to fast! Stop having internal monologues during fast actions! it's stupid!

" _ **If contact only happen for a very short period of time, White hair won't have time to activate his power! Watch Kerpico! Watch how good I've become at this game!**_ _"_

Ow sure! Not just the long thinking part, now he's got time to speak with telepathy..

During that time, he also had prepared to swipe at the arm.

I swear if he also has time to :

"Fool! I win!"

(-_-)

I won't even comment that.

Anyway, Action!

"Saisho wa gū .." Gon had started to charge up assuming his signature pose. Which I won't describe.. If you don't know what is signature pose is watch Hunter x Hunter instead of reading this or you can look it up online.. Don't google 'Gon signature pose' of course, you'll probably find it but you won't have many results.. Why... Why Am I explaining you how to make a google search?!

Killua had followed to not raise suspicions all the while placing himself right behind Hagya at the opposite of Gon's position.

Doing so he had ensured that Hagya would be right between him and his severed arm.

" Eh..You're the fool.."

The arm started to spark lightning arcs.

Hagya realized a bit to late that he wouldn't even have time to swipe the arm away as the electric current was called by its master and traveled back to him in a straight line.

" _Both my feet are off the ground, I can't dodge! Their timing was way too .._ "

"Perfect!" exclaimed Killua as the electricity shook Hagya to his core and paralyzed him!

"Jan KEN!.." His aura had spiked up. It flared a demonic mix of red and black.

"No! Please don't!" begged Kerpico as Gon prepared to punch his feline leader much harder than he had punched Rammot before.

His eyes were burning a brighter red than usual. He also felt much stronger.

Not just much stronger than usual, much stronger than Kurapika ever felt to anyone.

But that wasn't enough to move.

Hagya was still falling relatively slowly as he wasn't on the ground when he got paralyzed.

The surge in power didn't distract Gon but it woke something up in a discreet and now very jealous onlooker. One desperate to be useful.

"HAGYA-SAMA!"

Out of nowhere and faster than he had ever been before, Flutter flew in horizontally and knowing he wouldn't have time to throw his leader out of the way using his arms before he was himself paralyzed, he decided to dropkick him out of the scene.

It wasn't just oddly satisfying to do that for Flutter.. Certainly the lion had deserved it but it was also a very selfless act.

Because even though the lion was sent flying away from the scene and its danger, that only accounted for most of the energy of the dropkick and Flutter's "landing" wasn't as graceful as he's used to.

Gon let go of the aura he had built up in his fist, letting it flow back to his body.

He was still of steel, resolve and emptiness.

He approached the dragonfly who was still trying to get up.

But then he stopped, and then he started to weep. The weeping became crying.

Kerpico and Flutter had never really been friendly to each other. They both knew Kerpico was the boss' favorite.

"Flutter.. Your.. your wings.. they're.."

"It's okay.. don't worry.. it was worth it.."

Gon looked back to Killua's arm..

 _No! NO! I don't want to admit it!_

 _NO!_

Despite his protest, he checked back the mess on the chimera's back.. He would never be able to fly again. They weren't all as tough as Rammot.. that was just made very clear.

 _Am I comparing Killua to this thing?_

 _I can't! I can't!_

"Gon.. You know I killed more people than any of them.. You know we'll be just petrified again if we try and save Kite.. We need to get going, I need to find someone to fix my arm ASAP..."

Gon swallowed the pressure in his throat.

He turned his gaze towards Kerpico who wasn't brimming with energy anymore.

"Gon, there is nothing left for us here.."

He started to walk towards the rat chimera, he hadn't stopped crying.

"Gon.."

Kerpico didn't talk, he was gazing back right into the teen's eyes.. Mirroring his expression..

"Kurapika had a goal.. something important to him.."

"I will do it!"

Gon couldn't believe him. He frowned :

"How could.."

"You can!"

His eyes turned brighter again.

Flutter and Rammot gulped.

Cheetuh was getting really interested in this little officer.

 _Wow Hagya! you're lame at fighting but dang you've got a nose for talent!_

"Because you know, you know that if someone destroyed my clan...

Death wouldn't be enough to prevent me from having my revenge!

It's only fair that I offer my strength to the one I owe it to.

Tell me, Gon! Who's the spider? What is the phantom troupe?"


End file.
